There are two problems with this post. The first, it’s a day
late, which has become something of a habit, sadly. The second, I am departing
from the agreed theme of Fan Fiction.
I have no quarrel with Fan Fiction, it’s just that it’s not
really me. And today is not the time. I did toy, briefly, with the idea of a
short piece where Christian Grey and Heathcliff meet in a pub to compare notes,
but maybe I’ll save that for another occasion.
Instead, and given that this is to be my last post on OGG, I
wanted to say a little bit about my journey over the last decade or so.
I used to work in a regeneration company. I was a Director,
so I was well paid, I suppose, but it was basically admin. High level, but
admin all the same. Signing holiday sheets, dealing with disciplinary issues,
financial forecasting, Board reports. Nothing especially inspirational, but
beck in 2009, just as the crash started to hit and everyone was worried about
their jobs, it seemed important to stay employed. A job’s a job, you stick at
it. Right?
Wrong.
I decided otherwise when everyone at my level was handed a
sheet of paper with their redundancy entitlement on it. It seemed they were prepared
to pay me a year’s salary just to go away. I didn’t need asking twice. Someone
else could worry about the paperwork. I took the cheque and I went.
There followed a couple
of lean years. The life of a self-employed regeneration ‘consultant’ is hard. Fierce
competition for contracts and clients who wanted their pound of flesh and more
besides took their toll eventually. Times were hard. I loved being my own boss,
working from home, but I had bills to pay and hardly any income. Reluctantly, I
began to look around for a new job.
Then, something happened that set me on another course, one
I hadn’t ever considered.
E.L. James published Fifty Shades of Grey.
I read it,
as did pretty much everyone I knew that summer. I loved the brash, out there
BDSM themes, but was less than blown away by some aspects of the book. Did the hero
have to be so tortured? And such a dickhead? And why was the heroine so
terminally stupid? I decided I could write something better, something with all
the raunchy bite of Fifty Shades, but with central characters I’d actually like
as my friends.
I sat at my desk and started to write. The result, three
months or so later, was the first draft of The Dark Side, my first novel
and probably still my favourite. My hero, Nathan Darke, was wealthy and
successful, a nice bloke (mostly) who was into BDSM because he liked it. He
wasn’t ‘damaged’, just turned on by non-vanilla sex. My heroine, Eva Byrne, had
an IQ off the scale, a brilliant musician, mathematician and linguist, she was both
fascinated and terrified by the enigmatic Nathan. And he couldn’t keep his hands
off her. The attraction between these opposites was electric, and the sexual
chemistry explosive.
I wrote it in a sort of vacuum, not knowing if anyone but me
would ever read it. Was the writing any good? Did the story work? I knew I
liked it, I’d buy it, but would anyone else?
I got lucky first time. Totally Bound liked it and offered
me a publishing contract. I’ll never forget the joy when I received an email
asking me to send the rest of the manuscript to one of their editors. Nor the
delight with my very first book cover. The rest is history. A hundred or so
titles and three or four publishers later, I think of myself as a ‘proper’ writer.
I can live off my royalties.
Yee ha!
I really knew I’d made it as a credible writer in my genre
when Lisabet Serai contacted me to ask if I wanted to join the small but
perfectly formed bunch of authors who contribute to Oh Get A Grip every month.
I was flattered and delighted to accept. I’ve loved writing pieces on many and
various themes, topics I probably wouldn’t have thought of myself. It’s been a
blast, but even the best things come to an end.
So, I am bowing out at the end of 2019. This will be my last
post and I wanted to say a huge thank you to Lisabet for inviting me in, and to
the other OGG contributors whose wit and wisdom has inspired me month after month.
I’ll miss the routine of sitting down to write a few hundred words on some
truly wonderful topics, but I know the blog is continuing and will be in safe
hands.
Thanks also go to the readers who have dropped in to read my
ramblings. I hope I amused you, perhaps inspired you occasionally, and managed
not to bore you.
My sincere best wishes to you all, for Christmas, for 2020,
and for all the years to come.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Ashe
Hey, Ashe!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for all your contributions. I hadn't realized how similar our journeys were. I also read a book (Portia da Costa's Gemini Heat) which opened my eyes to what could be done writing erotica.
And The Dark Side was the first thing of yours I read. I would never have thought it was a first novel.
Good luck wherever the galaxy takes you next.